First Impressions are Everything

Image via Flickr by wetwebwork

Have you ever been set up on a blind date? You open the door and take a look at the other person for the first time. What do you see? Unfortunately what you see first is what is going to stick in your mind for the rest of the date, and probably for a long time afterward. First impressions are crucial. You don’t want to assault the visitors to your site with painfully bright color schemes and outdated gifs. Don’t be the guy that shows up with overly greased hair and a Hawaiian shirt to go to a fancy restaurant.

Don’t Say Something Stupid

Sticking your foot in your mouth when you are with your friends is bad enough. When you are on a first date, or when you say the wrong thing on your landing page, that can be the end of it all. Your date – or your visitors – will walk away, and you will never hear from them again. Of course, exactly what the wrong thing is depends on the person. That is the tricky part about this one. You can’t please everyone all the time. Anything you say could probably offend someone. However, it’s important to try to be as polite as possible.

Getting Too Personal is a Turn-Off

Asking questions is good. Getting to know someone is great. But asking too many questions is a little nerve-wracking. Especially if you are throwing questions at the other person without offering any information about yourself. And when the questions get extremely personal, it’s even worse. Make sure to be subtle about the questions you ask on your landing page. If you wouldn’t ask it on a first date, don’t ask it on a landing page.

Falling Asleep is the Sign of a Bad Date

Image via Flickr by Ed Yourdon

You don’t want your date to fall asleep in the middle of dinner, right? If your landing page is boring, it is just as bad. People don’t want to sit and read through extremely boring walls of text. They want something that will keep them interested. Spice things up, and you might just keep the other party interested enough for another go-around.

Honesty Pays Off

Image via Flickr by Genista

Have you ever met someone who you could tell was a complete liar? People are good at sniffing out lies, whether on a first date or on a landing page. Be honest. You are more likely to make a good impression this way. People will trust you and be more likely to want to know more. From making up stats to fibbing about your past, lying is going to just make you look like scum.

First dates and landing pages, who knew they were so similar?

By Jon Correll

Stay Calm with Blue

Image via Flickr by stevendepolo

Blue has long been seen as a calm, cool color. In web design it also shows that you are trustworthy. There are a variety of major companies that use cool shades of blue to help portray this in their branding. Take Microsoft for example. Blue works great with any number of products and industries.

Grab Attention with Yellow

Image via Flickr by Upupa4me

Yellow is a bright color that is going to grab your visitors’ attention. In color theory, it is seen as a youthful color that is associated with creativity. Yellow is rarely used as the main color on a site because of how jarring it can be, unless it is a very subdued shade. Instead, it is used as a highlighting color. Frequently, yellow is used on creative sites, such as ones for bands, writers, or artists.

Get Back to Nature with Green

Image via Flickr by Walt Stoneburner

Green is a very natural color. Depending on the shade of green used, there is different symbolism. However, in general, it is a color of safety. In addition, when we see green we think of money. Like blue, green is seen as a calming color. It is used in many different natural products, grocery stores, and herbal supplements.

Exude Sophistication with Black

Image via Flickr by Axion23

Black is the new… well, black. This is a color that never goes out of style, especially in web design. It is seen as a color of sophistication. It can easily be overused; however, in the right amount, it is a very sleek color that looks great with everything.

Get Excited with Red

Image via Flickr by Hammer51012

Red can mean a variety of things; however, all of them involve getting riled up. Red can mean danger, excitement, love, or even stop. Red can be good or bad, though in most web designs it is seen as a negative. Red is used as a stop most often in design. Make sure you are very careful about how you use red in your design, or you may evoke the wrong emotions.

Create and Calm with Purple

Image via Flickr by matthewvenn

Purple has traditionally been seen as a royal color. However, it is also seen as a very creative color. Since it is a cool color, it is calming. Many brands use shades of purple to help evoke calm creativeness, and even feelings of wealth, hearkening back to the old view of purple being a royal color.

Invoke Action with Orange

Image via Flickr by anantal

Orange is an action color. It is vibrant and gets people ready to go. The color has long been associated with warmth and passion. When you want to add in an accent color that gets people ready to buy, orange is a great option.

Consider your colors

Color is important to web design. The colors you choose should look good together, but they should also evoke the right emotions. Keep in mind that these are general guidelines, but each website and customer set is different. We always recommend testing any color changes you perform on your design.

By Jon Correll

Google Considers Responsive Web Design Best Industry Practice

Image via Flickr by Robert Scoble

When talking about Search Engine Optimization, it’s important to know and follow what Google says is in. It has the largest market share of the search engines, so basically, what it says goes. Recently, Google has stated that responsive web design is the industry best practice. This means that if you have both a regular website and a mobile version, you may end up being ranked lower than someone who has a responsive design.

Usable Sites Rank Better – And Recognizable Sites are More Usable

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One of the biggest things in SEO is that a site needs to be usable. The more informative and usable a site is, the more likely it is to rank well. Unfortunately, many sites that are designed to be mobile sites are not as user-friendly as their normal counterpart. This can be confusing and frustrating to the users. With responsive design, however, the same elements are on the page; they are just in a slightly different spot. Because of this, users are more likely to stay on the page, showing the search engines that it is something useful.

Only Build Your Links Once

Have you ever tried to build links to multiple websites that are really the same site? It’s a pain in the butt. If you want both your mobile site and your main site to have good links, you need to go through this process. When you have a site with responsive design, you only have to go through this hassle once. All the link building that you do for your main site also translates to links for your mobile site, as it is the same thing. This helps your SEO significantly.

Make Your Keyword Marketing Easier

Image via Flickr by Jeff McNeill

Are you running keyword campaigns for both your main site and the mobile version? Not only are you paying twice for essentially the same content, you also have to manage each campaign. This can be frustrating for you, as well as time consuming. With a site that uses responsive design, you can include mobile-based keywords, which means you will have to deal with fewer keyword marketing campaigns.

Future Updating Becomes Much Quicker

When you have a mobile site that is completely separate from your main site, you will have to update each one separately. This is not only annoying, it can lead to mistakes that can seriously mess with your SEO. However, when you only have to update in one place, you are less likely to make significant mistakes.

There are a lot of reasons that responsive web design is the big buzz word today. Some sites tend to fit a responsive model better than others – and it’s not for everyone – but make sure you at least consider the pros and cons of a responsive site.

By Jon Correll

Emphasize Important Elements

Image via Flickr by Johnny does

What is the most important thing on your landing page? Is it the text, the images, or something a little more specific? No matter what is most important, make sure that it is surrounded by white space. This will help emphasize that this is an important element. If you have an image that is extremely important, don’t make the image larger; instead, increase the white space around it to emphasize the importance.

Draw the Eye

Image via Flickr by Nanagyei

You know exactly what order you want customers to look at things when they come to your site. Help draw the eye exactly where you want it with the use of white space. The human eye is drawn to white space and what it surrounds. You can guide a customer’s eyes simply by increasing or decreasing the amount of white space around specific elements of your site. This can help you guide the eye exactly where you want it to go.

Scanning is Necessary

Image via Flickr by Jayel Aheram

When you go to a website, do you look over every piece carefully before deciding if you are going to stay on the site or not? Most people don’t. We are impatient creatures and you can see this best online. A potential customer will look at your site and will leave if they don’t find what they want in a very short amount of time. Making your site easy to scan is crucial to retain visitors.

Get Rid of Confusion

Image via Flickr by See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

When you have too much information crammed on your site, it is going to get confusing. No one likes to feel confused and if you have too much in a small space, your customers are likely to leave. Help your customers better understand your website, your goals, and all the information they need by getting rid of clutter. Cut down on unnecessary information, and make sure that text boxes, images, etc. all have enough white space to become easy to view and understand.

Set the Tone

Image via Flickr by Ken_ts

What do you want to say with your website? Did you know that you can set the tone of your site with proper white space? You can show information, lightheartedness, business, casual, and more all with the way you use white space in your design. Openness, freshness, and airiness are frequently the ideas when a lot of white space is used. With little white space, the entire design feels more cramped and closed off.

Many new designers are scared of using white space. However, if you want your site to look professional and get good traffic, it is important to make sure you incorporate white space in your design. Keep your customers comfortable and on your site with a great design.

By Jon Correll

Social Media Bumps up Your SEO

Image via Flickr by Jason A. Howie

Riddle me this – What do social media and search engines have in common? Answer – They both love fresh, new, relevant content. Because of this, they are working hand-in-hand today. Realistically, if you have a crappy social media presence, or none at all, you are likely to rank lower in the search engines. Maybe it sucks (depends on your opinion of social media), but that’s the way the world, and SEO, is going. The more social, the better.

Show Your Customers a Human Side

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Depending on what your company sells, your customers may never really see a human side to your business. Even if they do, sometimes it just all seems so… robotic. Have you ever called in to customer service and felt like you were being given the run-around, or the agent was reading from a script? Of course you have. However, with a good social media presence, you can show your customers and the world a different side of your company, a more real side.

Better Lead Generation

Unless you live under a rock, you have heard and seen memes go viral. Posts go public, and sometimes it’s insane how quickly word gets around about what is happening with a company. This can be great for a company. Even if your company doesn’t have something that goes quite as viral as the all-famous Rickroll, if you have something that is good quality, it will be shared by your customers. When someone shares something on Facebook, it opens your company up to customers that you simply would not have had before. Because your company was put in front of these people by someone they know and trust, they are more likely to work with you as well.

What Happens if I Decide I Don’t Like Social Media?

Let’s say that you like living under your rock. You decide that social media, for some reason, isn’t the direction that you want your company to go. What are the consequences of that decision?

• Your company will fall behind the curve when it comes to marketing
• Your company will fall behind on SEO
• Customer satisfaction may drop
• The world will end
• We were kidding about the world ending…we promise

So, realistically, not adding social media to your website is not the absolute worst thing possible. However, knowingly putting yourself behind in the marketing world is not the smartest idea. If you want to make money with your company, the best things to do are to stay as far ahead in marketing as possible and make your customers happy. So, start up your social media marketing now!

By Jon Correll

Text Needs to be Readable

Image via Flickr by scriptingnews

Have you ever visited a website on your phone, only to realize that you can’t actually read what’s there? It’s irritating. Not only do you have to zoom into what you are trying to read, you then need to move the page all over the place, back and forth, to continue reading the page. It’s almost not worth the effort. As a website owner, you need to make sure that your landing page for mobile devices is easily readable on the smaller screens.

Pull Focus Correctly

Where do you want visitors to focus? Again, the smaller screen size is going to cause problems if you don’t have a separate landing page. On a computer, you can easily draw focus where you want it to be. However, translating that exact same page to a website means that not everything is going to show up immediately. When you create a new landing page, you are able to ensure that visitors see what you want them to see immediately.

Loading Times are Different on a Phone

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Does your landing page have a lot of images? If so, it is going to take a lot longer to load on a mobile device than on a computer. This can frustrate the customers, leading them to leave your page before it has fully loaded. If you want them to stay on your page, you need to make sure it loads quickly. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should get rid of all graphic elements, but you do need to be careful about the graphics used.

Have a Simple, Direct Call to Action

On your computer landing page, you will probably have multiple places where you have a call to action. These may be varying lengths and even varying complexities. However, on a mobile page, your call to action needs to be simple and direct. Make sure your customers know and understand the call to action.

Location, Location, Location

Image via Flickr by Daniel Milford Flathagen

With geo-location as well as location-based keywords, you can market to specific areas. This is perfect if your business is location-based. Having a specific mobile-based landing page can help you get local customers, and even get them in to your business. When they do a search from their phones for local businesses and find yours, you can even integrate Google maps directions to get them right to your office.

With so many people headed online from their phones, it’s important to take advantage of the extra business you could get. No one likes to have to spend extra time trying to navigate your site, simply to read what is there. Make it easy on your visitors.

By Jon Correll

Product Information Pages

Image via Flickr by Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta

This includes comparison sites, tech information, and more.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 3.24%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 50%
• Average Bounce Rate – 33.03%

Have you ever looked for information on a product? There is a lot of information on these sites, and because of that the bounce rate tends to be significantly lower than other types of websites. Comparison charts and interesting information, as well as tips and tricks, will keep people interested and your bounce rate down.

Lead Generation Sites

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This includes email grabbers, sales leads, quote sites, and more.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 5.24%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 81%
• Average Bounce Rate – 47.38%

The amount of information to read leads potential leads to read the page long enough that it does not count as a bounce when they leave the site. One way to help decrease your bounce rate is to make sure your information is interesting and informative.

Web Stores and E-Commerce Sites

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This includes any website selling a product or service.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 14.3%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 68%
• Average Bounce Rate – 33.9%

Have you ever gone to a website looking for a product, not found what you wanted right away, and left? That is how the bounce rate increases. To lower the bounce rate on your e-commerce site, try adding product descriptions with a lot of information to keep the customer on the page.

News and Media Sites

Image via Flickr by Andrew

This includes websites that have an affiliate news station and those simply reporting news online.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 25%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 81.4%
• Average Bounce Rate – 55.56%

So, why do news and media sites have such high bounce rates? Many people will take a look at the headlines, decide they don’t want or need to look any further, and leave the page. To lower the bounce rates on these pages, you need to ensure that your headlines are interesting and will pull the reader into the story.

Other Types of Sites

There are a lot of websites out there, and because of that, many industries get lumped together. Other industries combined have interesting bounce rates.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 13%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 85%
• Average Bounce Rate – 41.13%

Because of the broadness of this category, it is understandable why the numbers vary so much. One basic thing that can be done to improve the bounce rate is to make information more appealing to keep people on the site longer. Better images, higher quality content, and interesting information will keep people from bouncing off a site as soon as they get there.

So, what is the biggest take-away from all of this information? If you own a website, you need to make sure you content is interesting and quality. People are going to stay longer if they are actually interested in what they see.

By Jon Correll

You Probably Aren’t Marketing in the Correct Markets

Image via Flickr by zoetnet

Most people, especially those who are new to Internet marketing, don’t really realize that there is a lot to do to ensure that a pay-per-click marketing strategy is effective. You need to make sure that you are advertising to the right demographic. In the majority of cases, you cannot target your audience correctly and end up spending too much money on people who really don’t have any interest in your product.

Who Really Clicks?

When you start pay-per-click marketing campaigns, the first thing you think is that it won’t cost you too much money. Really, you are only paying when someone clicks on your link. However, there are a variety of reasons this sucks for your company. First, the majority of people who would be interested in your product are likely to ignore the PPC ads on a website. Those who do click, don’t have to purchase from you. And remember, you have to pay every time someone clicks. It adds up, and if you aren’t getting the expected revenue, your business is going to bleed money.

Fewer Clicks for Higher Prices

Since 2005, the cost per click has almost tripled. The click-through rate has fallen by two-thirds. This means that you are going to get fewer clicks than people did just a few years ago. On top of that, the number of invalid clicks has shot through the roof. However, you are going to pay a whole lot more. Depending on your keywords, you may be paying multiple dollars or even tens of dollars for each click. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it adds up quickly.

Do You Have a Brand to Market? You Can’t With PPC

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One of the biggest downfalls of pay-per-click marketing is that there is no branding. You can’t show your logo, you are extremely limited on what you can say, and it’s hard to get your image across. Because of this, companies that have a strong brand presence don’t benefit at all from PPC marketing.

It’s an Expensive Pain in the Butt to Correctly Set Up

Ok, so you can get a PPC marketing campaign set up for a very small cost quickly and easily. But does that mean that it is set up correctly? Absolutely not. In fact, the majority of new businesses make extremely expensive mistakes when setting up a new PPC campaign. Choosing the wrong keywords can cost you hundreds of dollars before it is fixed.

Pay-per-click marketing is ineffective if you don’t know what you’re doing. It will cost your company a significant amount of money, without much benefit. Before throwing money into a PPC campaign without fully understanding it, consult professionals.

By Jon Correll

Fun and Laid Back Fonts for Casual Sites

Image via Flickr by tarrytown

Are you building a website where you are trying to show a fun, casual, laid back face? If so, it is important to show this with the typography. Make sure you use font faces that are considered less formal. When trying to show off a fun website, consider the following fonts:

• Tekton Pro
• Cooper Black
• Curlz MT
• Hobo STD

Keep in mind that many ‘fun’ fonts are also considered cheesy. Additionally, they may be difficult to read if used in a large amount of text. It is a good idea to use them in moderation. And please think twice about using Comic Sans.

Script Fonts Represent a Formal Tone

Image via Flickr by olarte.ollie

If you need a formal feel on your site, a script font can add the perfect touch. It also adds a bit of flair to the content. Script fonts are great for formal announcements, registry sites, and more. When selecting a script font, it is important to make sure that it is still capable of being read. Too many curls and extra lines can make the text confusing to some users. When putting together a formal site, some great font options are:

• French Script MT
• Edwardian Script ITC
• Lucidia Calligraphy
• Monotype Corsiva

Try Going Retro With Your Text

Image via Flickr by Nils Geylen

Is your site a throwback to the past? Consider using a font that has a retro feel. These fonts will evoke a feeling from the past and place the users in the timeframe you are wishing to encapsulate on your site.

These sites should help you capture old-timey feel:

• Goudy Stout
• Harlow Solid Italic

Modern Site, Modern Text

Image via Flickr by Cory Schmitz

Do you want your visitors to know right off the bat that your website is up-to-date? Modern looking text is great for this type of respresentation. There are a lot of options when selecting a modern text style.

• Bahaus 93
• Gill Sans
• Rockwell
• Stencil

Go Custom for the Perfect Look

Image via Flickr by sbwoodside

Did you know that you can get custom fonts created? If you are going for a specific feel on your website, and just can’t find the right text to evoke the feelings you want, consider getting a custom font. This will allow you to decide how it looks, any fun extras, width, kerning, and more.

Serif or Sans? That is the Question

When considering what your font says about you, it is important to decide if you are going to have a Serif or Sans-serif type font. Serif fonts have “tails”, while sans-serif fonts do not. There is a lot of debate about which of the two are the perfect font. Many feel that a more professional font is Serif, while Sans-serif fonts are inherently more casual. Establishing which is best for your site is a key step in moving towards a direction that imerses users in the theme of your site.

There are many things to take into consideration when deciding on the typography of your website. When you pull together the right font, along with colors, design, and images, the whole site comes together, and helps visitors feel exactly how you want them to.

By Jon Correll

Learning the Basics of the Two

First, you need to understand the differences between A/B testing and multivariate testing. There are several key differences, so establishing those is the first move creating the most effective landing page.

• A/B testing – After creating two versions of a website, you split the traffic coming to your site evenly between the two.
• Multivariate testing – You only have one version of the website. You are testing a variety of elements inside the page, to see what is most popular.

What Does a Site Need for Each Testing Type?

Image via Flickr by chris.corwin

Each type of testing is better for different types of websites. Because of this, it is important to understand traffic needs for testing options.

• A/B testing – Little traffic is needed for this type of testing. You can do this type of testing with any number of visitors to your site.
• Multivariate testing – For multivariate testing, you need significantly more traffic than A/B testing. This type of testing does not work well for small, new sites.

What are Reasons You Would Need to Use Each Type of Testing?

Both types of testing are great for researching and marketing purposes. However, they each serve different functions, and should be used for different scenarios.

• A/B testing – Do you have two completely different design ideas? If so, A/B testing is perfect. It will help you determine which design is better for your customers.
• Multivariate testing – Are you trying to find the best way to get customers to a specific page on your site? With multivariate testing, you can change specific elements on the page, leaving your overall design the same.

What are the Biggest Benefits of A/B Testing?

Image via Flickr by SHUT theory

This type of testing is perfect for small or new companies that don’t have a ton of incoming traffic. It’s ease of use makes it perfect for those low-maintenance sites.

• It is quick and easy to set up.
• Understanding the data is simple, and does not require a lot of hours analyzing.
• You can test multiple design options at once

What are the Down Sides of A/B Testing?

A/B testing may not be as effective for large sites, unless you are considering completely changing the design of your website.

• You cannot look at what specifically made one option better than the other.
• It’s only effective once the site is up and running.

What are the Biggest Benefits of Multivariate Testing?

Image via Flickr by Noah Sussman

You can get more detailed information on exactly what works and what doesn’t work on the site. This can be incredible helpful when trying to troubleshoot those pesky problems that won’t go away.

• You can test many different elements on the site, and can test them in a variety of ways.
• Great for large companies with a lot of traffic.

What are the Down Sides of Multivariate Testing?

There must be a great deal of traffic flowing through the site in order to ge accurate results from multivariate testing. For smaller sites, this can prove to be a significant downfall to using this form of testing. Also, the data is known to be fairly difficult to to interpret, which can be fairly confusing for those that are not so adept.

Both types of testing are great for different types of websites. In general, if your website is small, consider A/B testing. If it is large, the data from multivariate testing is going to be helpful in your marketing strategy.

By Jon Correll